Abstract
Objective Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease whose treatment strategies remain unsatisfactory. This study aims to investigate the mechanisms of Quyushengxin formula acting on UC based on network pharmacology. Methods Ingredients of the main herbs in Quyushengxin formula were retrieved from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP) database. Absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion properties of all ingredients were evaluated for screening out candidate bioactive compounds in Quyushengxin formula. Weighted ensemble similarity algorithm was applied for predicting direct targets of bioactive ingredients. Functional enrichment analyses were performed for the targets. In addition, compound-target network, target-disease network, and target-pathway network were established via Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. Results A total of 41 bioactive compounds in Quyushengxin formula were selected out from the TCMSP database. These bioactive compounds were predicted to target 94 potential proteins by weighted ensemble similarity algorithm. Functional analysis suggested these targets were closely related with inflammatory- and immune-related biological progresses. Furthermore, the results of compound-target network, target-disease network, and target-pathway network indicated that the therapeutic effects of Quyushengxin on UC may be achieved through the synergistic and additive effects. Conclusion Quyushengxin may act on immune and inflammation-related targets to suppress UC progression in a synergistic and additive manner.
Highlights
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic and progressive immunologically mediated disease causing consecutive mucosal inflammation of the colon [1, 2]
Patients with more moderate-to-severe UC after 5-ASAs therapy are typically treated with corticosteroids, and these patients are Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine often followed by transition to a steroid-sparing agent with a thiopurine, adhesion molecule inhibitor, or anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agent [6]
Ingredients along with their molecular weight (MW), water partition coefficient (AlogP), number of hydrogen bond donors (Hodn), number of hydrogen acceptors (Hacc), oral bioavailability (OB), Caco-2 permeability (Caco-2), blood-brain barrier (BBB), drug-likeness (DL), fractional negative accessible surface area (FASA),and half-life (HL), of all four herbs in Quyushengxin formula were retrieved from Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology (TCMSP)
Summary
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic and progressive immunologically mediated disease causing consecutive mucosal inflammation of the colon [1, 2]. Patients with more moderate-to-severe UC after 5-ASAs therapy are typically treated with corticosteroids, and these patients are Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine often followed by transition to a steroid-sparing agent with a thiopurine, adhesion molecule inhibitor, or anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agent [6]. These corticosteroid-based therapies accompany with side effects, such as cataracts, osteopenia, avascular necrosis, insomnia, mood changes, delirium, glaucoma, and adrenal insufficiency [7, 8]. It is of great significance to develop more optimized and integrated therapies for UC patients
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